Builders welcome infrastructure fund

Sir – We congratulate the Territory Government on establishing an Infrastructure Development Fund for the Territory.

The allocation of $200m in public funds, to leverage $800m in private capital, is exactly the sort of strategy the Territory needs to push forward with the next wave of growth.

This fund will play a crucial role in underpinning the expansion of our economy’s productive capacity and that is the building block for future jobs across the Territory.

We also welcome the decision to establish an independent board at arms length from Government, not just for the obvious reasons of separation from the vagaries of the Territory political environment, but because infrastructure is a long term game, and we will all benefit from a focus on long term decision making.

The challenge for the new board will be to develop a set of unique policies and guidelines that match the Territory’s particular stage of economic development.

So many of our investors are pioneers who are carving out brand new opportunities. That is very different to the eastern seaboard for example, where many of the opportunities are incremental additions to investments made over the past 200 years or so.

We need a blend of incentives that work in that environment. We are sure the board is well aware of this and will tailor the fund appropriately

Recent forecasting analysis released in our report, Capacity to Spare, shows that the construction industry has the capability and capacity to deliver the projects likely to emerge from support from the fund.